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Riven

Someone wails / in the basement / of my dream. / Amid the wailing / I hear a welter of water.

RIVEN

I race down stairs steeper, darker than those in my waking house.

Someone wails in the basement of my dream.

Amid the wailingI hear a welter of water. I thread through three turns to the bathroom, three turns to see

my dark-suited husband and sonstanding side by side in the shower.

Side by side both cry, facing me,but it is my son who is wailing.

The threshold won’t let me pass.All I can do is witness

how they remain clothed, howthey do not turn to each other.

WHAT BECAME OF THE GODDESS

Our Lady of Consolation

robed in a bride’s dresslocked in a glass boxon the edgeof the Franciscan’s meadow.

Her bare foot crushesthe snake which washer power.

Mary, namedImmaculate never part of it reallythis sinful meadowlusty with thistles, every petalsexual.

Shrunk to a dollwearing taffeta and laceshe stares through dirty glasssafe from dew and pollenholding Jesus, her fruit.

O Mary, once you strodethese fields full-breasted–you as Source, not vessel. Now they’ve nailed you upunder glass at the edgeof this glory.

They call it a shrine,call your murder

Our Lady of Consolation.

George Ella Lyon, Kentucky Poet Laureate (2015-2016), has published in many genres, including picture books, poetry, novels, short stories, and a memoir. Her poem “Where I’m From” has gone around the world as a writing model. Her most recent collections include She Let Herself Go(LSU, 2012) and Many-Storied House(Univ. Press of Ky, 2013). She makes her living as a freelance writer and teacher based in Lexington. For more information, visithttp://www.georgeellalyon.com.

If we are / to accept the rabbits of autumn, asked / the audience, must we accept also the green / life of the bird on the tree, how it looks like a leaf / as it pales

There was a gift shop inside Mount Acatenango. A real life gift shop, with fridge magnets, five-dollar sunglasses, and souvenir bobble heads. Some people might find it a little disingenuous to have one in an ancient holy site, but I didn’t.